Now that I think about it a bit more, was'nt the most critical decision Patton made was swinging his forces around at the perfect time in the Ardennes battle to help out the trapped forces?
To me, that might have saved lives and maybe might have shortened the German drive a lot more than other generals could, leaving air power out of the picture for now.
I'm not saying the Germans would have been "the winner" here, but they might have held on longer maybe........ If Patton was'nt there to make that call.
Cheers
Tom